The fast facts
- Finding a mental health platform that hits all your criteria can be challenging. We scored some platforms to go through the nitty-gritty details for you.
- We have five overall categories we score the platforms on.
- All categories are broken down and explained in this article.
In most of our articles, you may notice that we mention our vetting process and team who carefully evaluates every aspect of a service before sharing it with you.
We want to make sure you have access to information about each mental health platform before deciding if it suits your needs.
While everyone’s needs are different, there are some industry best practices we use to research platforms and services before you see them in our articles. Healthline’s vetting process makes sure that you’ll only see recommendations for products and brands we stand behind.
Every product or service we recommend and every brand we work with is thoroughly vetted by our team for:
- medical and professional credibility
- product and service quality
- company reputation
- good business practices
Once a mental health platform has passed our vetting process, we put it through our scoring rubric. From there, we give it a Healthline score based on the following factors:
The higher the platform’s score, the greater the service’s value in our eyes. Keep in mind, however, that each platform operates differently, so even a score of 3.0 out of 5 can still mean the platform provides good-quality services, and every platform we score meets our minimum requirements.
We discuss the details of what makes up the attributes listed above in more detail below.
We score platforms, not therapists
Our mental health scores evaluate each online platform’s interface and user experiences, such as onboarding, ease of navigation, and more.
Because each person’s therapy experience is different, we stick to more of the nitty-gritty details of the website and the services it offers.
Mental health professionals
One of the most defining features of any kind of therapy is the type of mental health professional you see. Are they specialized in what you’re looking for? Are they a therapist, psychologist, or psychiatrist? Can they meet at 8pm on a Saturday?
We considered some of these traits when examining how platforms present their therapists. We look to see if qualifications, bio, and experience are listed transparently.
We also look at whether you can filter your search by specialty, how long it takes to match with a therapist (if applicable), and whether the service is available in all 50 U.S. states, as well as Washington, D.C.
Professionals’ bio, qualifications, and previous experience:
- available immediately: 2 points
- available after questionnaire or matching: 1 point
- not available: 0 points
Filters to search by specialty
- available during initial search: 1 point
- ability to choose during questionnaire or after creating profile: 0.5 points
Maximum time it takes to match with a therapist
- less than 48 hours: 1 point
- longer than 48 hours: 0.5 points
Location availability
- all 50 states, including Washington D.C.: 1 point
- fewer than 50 states: 0.5 points
Why is location important if it's online therapy?
Not all online therapists are licensed in all 50 United States. Some are only licensed in a few states, while others can be licensed in many more.
Payment & insurance
Affordability is relative. To reward services with the most flexibility and affordability for all users, we divided this category into four main points:
- Ease of cancellation. No surprise late fees here.
- Easy peasy?: 1 point
- Not easy? (need to email or fill out a survey to cancel, etc.): 0 points
- Insurance. It’s amazing when insurance can cover therapy. We include Medicare and Medicaid in this category.
- Accepts all major insurance plans and Medicare: 2 points
- Accepts some combination of insurance, Medicare, and Medicaid (if not one, the other): 1.5 points
- Accepts Medicaid: an additional 0.5 points
- Reimbursement availability and HSA/FSA. Can they send you a superbill to send to your insurance? Do they accept HSA/FSA payments?
- Yes to either of these: 1 point
- No to either of these: 0 points
- Choice. Can you choose which plan or subscription to sign up for? Or can you pay by session?
- Yes, you can choose or pay by session: 1 point
- No, you cannot: 0 points
Privacy & security
The industry standard for safe online platforms that manage personal health information is to be compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).
Though there is no badge or certificate of HIPAA compliance, HIPAA provides a roadmap that ensures an online service meets its criteria. We use this roadmap as a baseline for our scoring system, and each trait equals 1 point. If the platform does not have that particular criterion met, we deduct that point:
- Privacy policy is available and easily accessible
- Personal Health Information (PHI) is identified for the user
- The platform has encryptions or safeguards in place for any PHI and video or chat features
- Responsible parties of the platform (parent companies, third-party affiliates, etc.) are identified
- There is a noted section in the privacy policy that notes how you can opt out of data sharing
Communication
Another major aspect of online therapy is communication. While video-first platforms are almost a given, there are some platforms that have different communication options available.
Aside from actually meeting with your therapist, having an app, how long the sessions are, and whether or not you can change your therapist, there are other important points we considered for this category.
| Category | Number of points |
|---|---|
| live messaging | • available: 2 points • not available: 0 points |
| multiple communication options available (i.e., text therapy, audio call, etc.) | • yes: 0.5 points • no: 0 points |
| app availability | • yes: 0.5 points • no: 0 points |
| length of session | • longer than 45 minutes: 1 point • less than 44 minutes: 0.5 points |
| ease of switching a therapist | • can change through app or platform: 1 point • change through call or email to company: 0.5 points |
Quality indicators
This category is difficult to standardize because each user’s experience is unique. To make our score as objective as possible, we decided to focus on how easy it is for users to choose a mental health professional, down to the type of therapist, if you can choose your own, session types offered, and more.
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
| specialize professionals available (i.e., specialized experience or specific credentials) | • yes: 1 point • no: 0 points |
| medication management or psychiatry available | • yes: 0.25 points • no: 0 points |
| accessibility to multiple options (i.e., availability of therapists by ethnicity, race, LGBTQ+, etc.) | • filters are available during search: 1 point • asked in a questionnaire or during matching process: 0.5 points |
| session types | • online sessions only: 1 point • in-person and online available: additional 0.25 points |
| provides service to | • all ages and populations: 1 point • certain ages or populations: 0.5 points |
| you have the ability to choose a therapist | • yes: 1 point • no: 0 points |
Before we mention any mental health platform or service on Healthline, it has to meet our strict requirements. Our scoring system keeps the brands’ offerings transparent. Make sure to read through the brand’s score if you think it’s best for you.
This helps make sure that as you’re searching for the right therapist for you, you’re able to choose from the best services available based on your budget, needs, safety, and priorities.
To ensure you choose the best platform for you, consider what qualities you’re looking for in an online therapist and what you value in an online therapy service.